BRUSSELS, Feb. 18, 2020 /CNW/ --

Financial Highlights

• Revenues up 8%, compared to FY 2018, to EUR 1435 million
• Business Income rose 6% to EUR 1145 million due to delivery of our strategic initiatives and benefit of positive market conditions
• Banking and Other Income increased by 13% to EUR 290 million, boosted by higher US interest rates in the first half 2019
• Operating costs were stable at EUR 820 million, as ongoing investment in our customer proposition, modernising technology and regulatory-driven initiatives were offset by tight control of costs
• Business Income Operating Margin was up four percentage points to 28.4%
• EBITDA of EUR 709 million increased by 19%, delivering an EBITDA margin of 49%
• Net profit was up 34% to EUR 431 million, resulting in earnings per share of EUR 136.9 compared to EUR 102.3 in 2018
• Board indicates a full year dividend per share of EUR 82.4, up 50% compared to 2018

Key Operating Metrics

• Record 239 million netted transactions settled in the Euroclear group which is equivalent to EUR 837 trillion by value or approximately 10x Global Economic Output
• The average value of securities held on behalf of Euroclear clients continued to grow, up 5% in 2019, to EUR 30.1 trillion compared to EUR 28.8 trillion in 2018. At year end, Euroclear held EUR 31.4 trillion of assets under custody
• Euroclear's Collateral Highway mobilised a yearly average of EUR 1.3 trillion, up 6%
• Euroclear's FundsPlace continues to attract both asset managers and ETF issuers with fund assets under custody rising to €2.4 trillion. Number of fund orders routed by Euroclear increased 3% to 11.2 million

Strategic Update

Remain focused on delivering our three strategic objectives to enhance our customer proposition: 1. strengthening our network, 2. growing our network and 3. reshaping our network. Highlights from 2019:

• First (I)CSD group to be granted licences under new CSD regulations, demonstrating robustness of Euroclear's systems and capabilities
• Announced plans to connect Euroclear Bank to T2S, supporting EU's ambitions for European Capital Markets Union
• Strong pipeline of emerging markets who are attracted to become 'Euroclearable' to facilitate international investment. Memorandum of Understandings (MOU) signed with the Egyptian Ministry of Finance,  Saudi Arabia's Securities Depository Centre, and China Central Depository & Clearing to develop cross-border services
• Continued growth in Collateral Management solutions across business lines. Became 100% owner of Global Collateral Ltd to enhance delivery model to global investors
• Developing issuer solutions to support of SRDII-related opportunities and in global green finance sector 
• Investing in digital and data services that support post-trade efficiency

Commenting on the results, Lieve Mostrey, Chief Executive Officer said: "Following an excellent performance in 2018, 2019 was another record year for Euroclear. By consistently implementing our strategy, we continue to grow our business through customer and product expansion and capture the benefit of positive market conditions.

Looking forward, despite headwinds from lower interest rates environment, we continue to invest in customer and product expansion, and to enhance our technology. By remaining focused on delivering our strategic objectives, we expect to create further value for all our stakeholders."

Note to editors

Euroclear group is the financial industry's trusted provider of post trade services. At the core, the group provides settlement, safe-keeping and servicing of domestic and cross-border securities for bonds, equities and derivatives to investment funds. Euroclear is a proven, resilient capital market infrastructure committed to delivering risk-mitigation, automation and efficiency at scale for its global client franchise.

The Euroclear group includes Euroclear Bank - which is rated AA+ by Fitch Ratings and AA by Standard & Poor's - as well as Euroclear Belgium, Euroclear Finland, Euroclear France, Euroclear Nederland, Euroclear Sweden and Euroclear UK & Ireland. The Euroclear group settled the equivalent of EUR 837 trillion in securities transactions in 2019, representing 239 million domestic and cross-border transactions and held an average of EUR 30.1 trillion in assets for clients.

For more information about Euroclear, please visit www.euroclear.com.

Euroclear will hold a presentation for investors today, with a video streaming service available on www.euroclear.com.  

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SOURCE Euroclear

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